Chagigah 7b (ז:) — the Talmud in English

Abaye said to him:

There is no need to teach us that he brings them all together on the first day. For

it is obvious

that this is so!

Because:

which of them

among the sons

would you deem “sinners”

—[slackers]? Which of the sons would you classify as “sinners,” who delay the mitzva of appearing before the Lord,

and which of them would you deem “zealous”

—and which of the sons would you consider zealous, fulfilling the mitzva of appearing on the first day?! For even without the verse, it is obvious that each person must hasten to fulfill the mitzva of appearing on the first day.

Rather,

necessarily,

the verse

“all your males,”

what does it come to teach

—[what does it come to say]?

The ruling of Aḥerim!

As it was taught in a beraita: Aḥerim say: One who gathers dog dung, one who works as a copper smelter, and one who tans hides are exempt from appearing before the Lord,

as it is stated: “all your males”,

to teach:

one who can ascend together with all your males

is obligated to ascend;

those who cannot ascend together with all your males are excluded.

This statement was already explained above, on page 4a.

Mishna:

The general rule is: “Anything that is an obligation may be brought only from non-sacred funds.”

That is to say: Offerings that a person is obligated to offer must be purchased with non-sacred funds; they may not be purchased with funds that he consecrated as ma'aser sheni.

This rule is derived from what the Torah says: “And you shall perform the Festival of Shavuot for the Lord your God, according to the measure of the freewill offering of your hand.” The word “measure” (misset) has the sense of “non-sacred,” teaching that the Festival peace-offering, which is an obligation, and likewise anything that is an obligation, may be brought only from non-sacred funds and not from something that possesses sanctity [below, 8a].

Therefore:

the burnt-offerings

of appearance brought

during

the intermediate days of the

Festival

are not

brought

except

from non-sacred funds, and not from ma'aser sheni funds, since they are an obligatory offering [Rashi. And the Gemara explains why the Mishna specifically mentions the intermediate days of the Festival].

And the peace-offerings

[peace-offerings of rejoicing] may be brought even

from

funds of

the tithe,

the second tithe.

For peace-offerings of rejoicing are not “something that is an obligation” when there is meat available. Therefore, since a person has ma'aser sheni funds that he must spend in Jerusalem, he should purchase peace-offerings with them. And below [8a] the verse includes all types of rejoicing under the mitzva of rejoicing [Rashi in the Gemara].

The offering of

the first day of Passover

[and the same applies to the other Festival offerings] was the subject of a dispute between Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel:

Beit Shammai say:

It may be brought only

from non-sacred funds,

for it is an obligatory offering, and anything that is an obligation may be brought only from non-sacred funds.

And Beit Hillel say:

It may be brought even

from tithe

funds, the second tithe.

And the Gemara will explain that even according to Beit Hillel it may not be brought entirely from tithe funds, since it is an obligatory offering. Rather, according to their view, one may supplement [combine] tithe funds with non-sacred funds; and the amoraim dispute in the Gemara how this supplementation is performed.

A person fulfills his obligation of rejoicing with any sacrificial meat that he has available for satiety. He need bring peace-offerings for the sake of rejoicing only when he has no meat sufficient for satiety [Rashi].

Therefore:

Israel fulfills its obligation

of peace-offerings of rejoicing

with vows and freewill offerings

that they donated throughout the year; when they ascend to Jerusalem for the Festival, they bring them and offer their sacrificial portions, while the meat is eaten by the owners [Rashi],

and with animal tithe,

which is a peace-offering, whose meat is eaten by the owners.

And the priests

fulfill their obligation of rejoicing:

With sin-offerings and guilt-offerings,

for which those ascending for the Festival were obligated, and which they brought on the Festival; their meat is eaten by the priests.

And with the firstborn,

which belongs to the priests and is eaten by them.

And with the breast and thigh,

which were separated from the peace-offerings of Israelites and given to the priests to eat.

But

the priests do not fulfill their obligation

with birds

[the bird sin-offering eaten by the priests], because satiety is achieved only with the meat of an animal,

nor with meal-offerings,

whose remnants are eaten by the priests, since they are not meat.

Gemara:

We learned in the Mishna: Burnt-offerings “during the Festival” are brought from non-sacred funds.

And it initially entered our minds to explain this as follows: Burnt-offerings of appearance brought during the intermediate days of the Festival may be brought only from non-sacred funds. Therefore we ask:

Rather,

since the tanna said “during the Festival,” does he mean that

burnt-offerings

of appearance are brought only

during

the intermediate days of the

Festival,

only

from non-sacred funds?

Does this imply that on the Festival day

they may be brought even

from tithe funds?!

And

why?

But a burnt-offering of appearance

is an obligatory offering, and

we have established:

anything that is an obligation may be brought

only from non-sacred funds?!

And if you would say,

if you say that one should not infer “on the Festival day they are brought from tithe funds,” but rather

this teaches us

that the tanna who said “during the Festival” mentioned incidentally

that burnt-offerings

of appearance are brought only

during

the intermediate days of the

Festival,

but only then are they

brought,

whereas

on the Festival day they are not brought

at all, and one completes the obligation during the intermediate days of the Festival; therefore he said “during the Festival,” since they are brought only then.

This cannot be the explanation.

For according to this, necessarily,

in accordance with whom

does our Mishna come, when it prohibits bringing a burnt-offering of appearance on the Festival day?

In accordance with Beit Shammai!

But would we interpret our Mishna as following Beit Shammai, who prohibit bringing a burnt-offering of appearance on the Festival day, and not Beit Hillel, whose view is the halakha, and who dispute them?!

For we learned:

Beit Shammai say: One brings

on the Festival day

peace-offerings

of the Festival offering and of rejoicing, since they possess “two advantages”: They are obligations of the day, and their meat is eaten by the owners [but vows and freewill offerings, which are not brought as obligations of the day and may be sacrificed at another time, are not brought on a Festival even if they are peace-offerings fit to be eaten by the owners].

But one does not

the owner

place his hands upon them

on the Festival day, because placing the hands is performed with all one’s strength, and he consequently makes use of an animal; using animals is prohibited on Shabbat and Festivals by rabbinic decree. Rather, he places his hands upon them on the eve of the Festival, and it is unnecessary for the slaughter to be performed immediately after the placing of the hands [Rashi below, 17a].

But they do not

bring

burnt-offerings

at all, even burnt-offerings of appearance, which are obligations of the day, since their meat is not eaten by the owners.

This excludes burnt-offerings whose time is fixed, such as the daily offerings and the additional offerings, which override Shabbat; all the more so, they override a Festival.

And the House of Hillel say: They bring

on the Festival

peace offerings.

They disagree in tractate Beitza, 19, whether according to Beit Hillel vows and freewill offerings of peace-offerings may also be sacrificed on a Festival, since their meat is eaten by the owners, or whether in this regard they agree with Beit Shammai that only peace-offerings that are obligations of the day may be sacrificed on a Festival, but not vows and freewill offerings, since one can bring them at a later time.

And

one also brings on a Festival day

burnt-offerings.

They disagree in Beitza 20b whether only a burnt-offering of appearance, which is an obligation of the day, may be brought, or whether according to Beit Hillel vows and freewill offerings of burnt-offerings may also be sacrificed on a Festival. In any event, offerings whose time is fixed, which override even Shabbat, certainly override a Festival according to everyone.

And one places his hands upon them,

even though placing the hands on a Festival is a rabbinically prohibited act, since once bringing them is permitted, the Sages did not impose the rabbinic prohibition in a manner that would prevent fulfillment of the mitzva of placing the hands upon them [Rashi].

We have thus learned that according to Beit Hillel one brings a burnt-offering of appearance on a Festival day, and it is impossible to explain that our Mishna mentioned, with regard to a burnt-offering of appearance, “during the Festival,” because it is not brought at all on a Festival day.

Therefore, we answer differently:

Actually, the reason the tanna in our Mishna mentioned “during the Festival” is that they are not brought at all on a Festival day.

However, the reference is not to a burnt-offering of appearance but to burnt-offerings of vows and freewill offerings.

And

our Mishna is incomplete,

and

this is what it teaches

in it:

Burnt-offerings of vows and freewill offerings—

only

during

the intermediate days of the

Festival are brought,

but

on a Festival day they are not brought

at all.

And a burnt-offering of appearance may be brought even on a Festival day, but when it is brought, it may be brought only from non-sacred funds

alone, and even not by means of supplementation.

And peace-offerings of rejoicing may be brought even from tithe funds.

And concerning the offering of the first day of Passover, Beit Shammai say:

It may be brought only

from non-sacred funds, and Beit Hillel say:

even

from tithe funds,

by means of supplementation.

It was taught likewise:

Burnt-offerings of vows and freewill offerings—

only

during the Festival

are they

brought.

But

on a Festival day they are not brought.

And a burnt-offering of appearance—

may be brought even on a Festival day.

But when it is brought, it may be brought only from non-sacred funds.

And peace-offerings of rejoicing—

may be brought even from tithe funds.

And concerning the offering of the first day of Passover—

Beit Shammai say

it may be brought

from non-sacred funds,

and Beit Hillel say

it may be brought even

from tithe funds.

The Gemara now explains what we learned in the Mishna and in the beraita concerning the dispute between Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel about the offering of the first day of Passover: Why did the tanna mention this dispute specifically with regard to the first day of Passover?

And we raise the question:

What is different about the offering of the first day of Passover,

which the tanna mentioned in the Mishna and in the beraita, rather than the offering of the other Festivals?

Rav Ashi said:

The tanna therefore stated the dispute with regard to Passover because on the eve of Passover there is another offering as well. If the group registered for the Paschal offering was large, so that each person would receive only a small portion of the Paschal offering, they bring a Festival offering with it [called “the offering of the fourteenth”], so that they will first eat from it, and only after they have alleviated their hunger by eating the Festival offering of the fourteenth will they eat the meat of the Paschal offering. This is so that the Paschal offering will be eaten in a significant manner, “when satisfied,” and not in a hurried meal intended merely to relieve hunger.

And

this teaches us

our Mishna:

The offering of the fifteenth

[which is the Festival offering],

yes,

indeed, it may be brought only from non-sacred funds, but

the offering of the fourteenth—

no,

it need not be brought specifically from non-sacred funds; rather, it may also be brought from tithe funds.